Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christian Eggen continue the survey of their compatriot Fartein Valen's orchestral music with a programme spanning the years 1932-1946. Valen had by then already established his distinctive tonal language, an atonal counterpoint based on his studies of Bach with inspiration from Schoenberg and from Alban Berg. The three single-movement orchestral pieces recorded here were written in the space of just over a year, and all have titles that are rich in extra-musical associations. They are not, however, examples of romantic programme music: the titles reflect the underlying inspiration rather than the content of the works. Nenia, from the Latin, is a lament - or 'funeral march' as Valen termed it - inspired by the expressive Roman marble figure known as the 'Dying Gaul'. For An die Hoffnung it was the poem 'To Hope' by John Keats which provided the creative impetus, and it is known that Valen owned a copy of Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion from 1595, as he was composing the work which he intended as a wedding gift to his nephew. These shorter works may be seen as preliminary studies for Valen's symphonies, of which No.2 and No.3 were composed from 1941 to 1946. During this time - which more or less coincides with the German occupation of Norway - Valen led a reclusive life on the family farm, spending his time composing and tending his beloved rose garden. As a symphonist, Valen was not interested in the traditional symphonic development but he did want to preserve the character of the extended lines with long spans through polyphony. To quote the liner notes by Valen specialist Arvid Vollsnes, 'many of the movements are like gigantic fugues. They have a dynamic, rather than an architectural form even though we encounter sonata form, Lied form and rondos.'.

Brahms: Four-Hand Piano Music, Vol. 10

Classical Music

Classical Music

Andante: Romantic Music for Cello and Orchestra

Includes work(s) by Carl Michael Ziehrer. Ensemble: Razumovsky Sinfonia. Conductor: Christian Pollack.

BENDA, F. / BENDA, J. J.: Violin Concertos in G Major, D Maj

Includes cantata(s) by Gottfried H. Stölzel. Ensemble: Michaelstein Telemannisches Collegium. Conductor: Ludger Rémy. Soloists: Dorothee Mields, Jan Kobow, Christian Immler.

The Thomas Christian ensemble, along with pianist Evgeny Sinayskiy, present this album of works by Vasilije Mokranjac (1923-1984). Included on this album are Mokranjac’s String Quartet in D minor, Sonata for Violin & Piano in G minor, Old Song for Violin & Piano in G sharp minor, and Dance for Violin & Piano in E minor. The Thomas Christian Ensemble is Thomas Christian and Fabian Rieser, violin, Gertrud Weinmeister, viola, and Bruno Weinmeister, cello.

Nocturne: Classical Favourites for Relaxing and Dreaming

Classical Music

(2-CD set) For nearly fifty years, an entire school has sought its inspiration in the work of Charlie CHRISTIAN. Includes a 24 page booklet with both French and English notes.

Classical Music

Recorded in: Goldsmith's College, New Cross, London 6-8 April 1993 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee

BIRTH OF CHRIST (DIE GEBURT CH

STRAUSS I, J.: Edition - Vol. 5

This recording unites around Jean-Charles Capon and his six compositions, two exeptional musicians on songs inspired by Paris. Artists that listen to each other, strings that answer to one another, and songs that breath, shared pleasures, astonishing freestyles and an interpretation that enlightens.

SUPPE: Overtures, Vol. 6

MAHLER: WUNDERHORN-LIEDER & SYMPHONY NO. 10

Classical Music

Classical Music

BARBERCTO & SONATA FOR CELLO & ORCH.POLTERA (CELLO); BERGEN P.O. POLTERA (CELLO); BERGEN P.O./LITTON; STOTT (PIANO) CTO & SONATA FOR CELLO & ORCH.; ADAGIO FOR STRINGS

VALEN Symphony No. 1. Violin Concerto. Sonetto di Michelangelo. Cantico di ringraziamento. Pastorale • Christian Eggen, cond; Elise Båtnes (vn); Stavanger SO • BIS 1522 (58:06)


One of the great pleasures of collecting recordings is the occasional discovery of an exciting, previously unknown, work. Well, here are five of them, by a composer that has been neglected for far too long. Norwegian composer Fartein Valen (1887–1952) may be, as one biography has it, “one of the few Norwegian composers with an international reputation,” but that doesn’t seem to be saying much. He was a modernist in a country much taken with its nationalist musical tradition and not particularly receptive to Valen’s innovations. His own apparent indifference to recognition and his withdrawal to the isolation of a rural farm for much of his creative life only added to his obscurity. One can hope this release, the first in a promised series of recordings of orchestral works from BIS will help to rectify this situation.


Valen studied with Max Bruch in Berlin and stayed to absorb the many other influences of that important musical capital in the second decade of the 20th century. He fell under the spell of Bach, Bruckner, and Brahms, but was also captivated by the progressives of that era, especially Arnold Schoenberg. When Schoenberg introduced his first works using serial techniques in the early 1920s, Valen was already home in Norway, developing his own type of serialism. It became the basis for all of his compositions written from 1925 on. Unlike Schoenberg, who developed a whole new theoretical system of music using tone rows of all 12 chromatic pitches, Valen worked intuitively and far less strictly. His point of departure was Bach’s rich polyphony, from which he developed comparably rich tone row-like chromatic melodies. Valen applied this technique of “dissonant counterpoint,” as he called it, in a variety of classic forms during the remainder of his career. The result is not the sometimes hard-edged dissonances of Schoenberg’s thornier scores. Rather, while there are no keys in Valen’s music, there is always a sense of vague tonality. The lines are incredibly long, but one never gets lost. There is a feeling of wandering, which is undoubtedly the desired effect. This is music of ambiguity and melancholy—a beautiful uncertainty which Valen packages in clear, familiar structures. It sounds vaguely like Berg, another important influence, but the overall effect is different.


Valen’s Symphony No. 1, op. 30 (1939), is, of course, classical in form. After a beginning of dark foreboding, the opening Allegro movement is tense and energetic, with moments of exaltation. El Greco’s painting Christ on the Mount of Olives is the inspiration for the second, Adagio, movement. The building of the line is ecstatic and the anguish palpable. The third movement provides contrast in the form of a playful scherzo and clouded trio before we are plunged back into the tensions of the rondo-form finale. It is an exhilarating journey.


The Violin Concerto, op. 37 (1940), is Valen’s most-played work and the one that finally brought him some recognition at its premiere in 1948. It was written as a memorial to his godson, Arne Valen, who had died of tuberculosis several years earlier. In it he expresses his profound sense of loss and his deep Christian faith, the latter especially in his use of the Bach chorale Jesu meine Zuversicht in the concluding section of the work. It bears a superficial similarity to the Berg Violin Concerto, of which Valen was aware, though he had not actually heard it. The work is intensely beautiful and deeply, often tenderly, moving.


The other works on the disc— Pastorale , op. 11 (1930), a meditation on his beloved rose garden, Sonetto di Michelangelo , op. 17/1 (1932), in which he contemplates the religious longing and pain in the great Italian artist’s poetry, and Cantico di ringraziamento , op. 17/2 (1932), in which Valen expresses Psalm-like thanksgiving in a beautifully constructed fugue—are equally rewarding experiences.


The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the excellent resident orchestra of Valen’s birthplace, has made a mission, on CD at least, of rescuing Norwegian composers from undeserved obscurity. Valen joins Geirr Tveitt and Harald Sæverud in their debt. Christian Eggen, who edited the often-faulty published scores to restore Valen’s intentions, is well known in Scandinavia for his performances of contemporary music. He conducts with admirable strength and sensitivity. Elise Båtnes, one of the foremost violinists of Norway, plays the difficult, soaring lines of the Concerto with silvery tone and great concentration. The recorded sound is very fine and the documentation excellent. This is not music of loud affirmation and major-key celebration. Look elsewhere for that. This is music of great emotional depth and asks a fair amount of the listener. It rewards in kind. Highly recommended with that caveat.


FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: HAENSEL UND GRETEL

Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor op26, Stenhammar Violin Sonata in A major op19 / Christian Svarfvar (violin), London Philharmonic Orchestra Joana Carneiro conductor, Henrik M�we piano* Christian Svarfvar has emerged as one of Scandinavia's most sought after concert violinists. His debut album of the three Grieg Violin Sonatas was praised by the Financial Times 'buoyed by Svarfvar's fearless expression, rock-solid technique, stylistic acumen, Christian did us and Grieg a big favour and we must hear more from him' Svarfar has worked with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated in chamber projects with Martin Fr�st, Maxim Rysanov, Tabea Zimmermann, Janine Jansen, Clemens Hagen, and with contemporary composers Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, Howard Shore and Anders Hillborg. - For his first album for Rubicon, Christian has recorded perhaps the most famous and best loved of all 19th century concertos, Max Bruch's evergreen first Violin Concerto, and paired it with the Wilhelm Stenhammar's warmly romantic Violin Sonata. The same composer's two Sentimental Romances conclude the disc.